One-Legged Workouts for the Hamstrings

Certain one legged workouts are absolutely great at working out your hamstrings. Find out about one legged workouts for the hamstrings with help from a certified sports nutritionist and personal trainer in this free video clip.

Video Transcript

My name is Sandra Blackie from Freedom to Fitness, and today I'm going to show you how to do hamstring exercises but one leg at a time instead of both. Here I'm showing you one variation of a leg curl done with just one leg. So as you can see I'm leaning forward on the machine. Posture is always important. The hips barely move. And most of the movement is happening from the knee joint only. So extension from the knee and flexion from the knee is a one legged curl on a machine. Another option for a one legged leg curl is at home with a fitness ball. It's important when the leg is flexing or the knee is bending that the heel push strongly down into the ball. The harder you push down into the ball the more stress is on the hamstring muscle, the harder it becomes. So this is a one legged leg curl on a ball. A third variation for hamstring actually it's more of a variation for glutes which is your backside and the hamstrings. Notice I'm bending forward from the hip joint and coming back up. So all the movement is happening at the hip. There's a slight bend in the knee that I'm standing on. Balance is required so we work the hamstring from the hip joint as well as the knee joint. And this particular exercise is a much more advanced movement requiring a lot of balance and focus. So this is a one legged deadlift. So these are exercises that you can do to build your hamstrings.